Engineering Commons^™

Nano-Devices Using Block-Copolymers, Ravi F. Saraf

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Patents

A structure including a substrate. A first electrode and a second electrode are arranged spaced apart from each other on the substrate. A polymer string is positioned on the substrate between the two electrodes, the polymer line has a width of less than about 50 nm.

Spontaneous Planarization Of Nanoscale Phase Separated Thin Film, Ravi F. Saraf, Sanjun Niu, Eric Stumb

Papers in Nanotechnology

Structure of complex fluid at mesoscales is influenced by interfacial effects. We describe the dynamic response in such films to sudden change in interfacial tension. In a self-assembled block copolymer film, the monolayer of 15 nm diam cylindrical discrete phases close to the surface commence to sink at an average rate of 0.16 nm/day in response to the interfacial tension change. Surprisingly, this spontaneous planarization occurs, even though the cylinders are covalently stitched to the matrix. A simple model explains the observed behavior. The observation may lead to approaches to tailor the structure of mesoscale thin films of complex fluids …

Spontaneous Planarization Of Nanoscale Phase Separated Thin Film, Ravi F. Saraf, Sanjun Niu, Eric Stumb

Ravi Saraf Publications

Structure of complex fluid at mesoscales is influenced by interfacial effects. We describe the dynamic response in such films to sudden change in interfacial tension. In a self-assembled block copolymer film, the monolayer of 15 nm diam cylindrical discrete phases close to the surface commence to sink at an average rate of 0.16 nm/day in response to the interfacial tension change. Surprisingly, this spontaneous planarization occurs, even though the cylinders are covalently stitched to the matrix. A simple model explains the observed behavior. The observation may lead to approaches to tailor the structure of mesoscale thin films of complex fluids …

Acuta Enews June 2002, Vol 31, No. 6

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Oregon University System Wins Qwest Rate Case Dave Barta, Univ. of Oregon

ACUTA Looks Strategically at the Future Maureen Trimm, Stanford Univ.

Board Report................. John Bradley, Rensselaer Potytechnic lnstitute

Unintended Consequences of High-Efficiency Lighting..................... Steve Stroh

DC Update............................ Whitney Johnson, Retired, Northern Michigan Univ.

Web Site of the Quarter

Unauthorized Charges Update........................... Jeri Semer, CAE, ACUTA Executive Director

Welcome New Members

Structure Of Macrodomain Walls In Polytwinned Magnets, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Vladimir P. Antropov

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

We propose a microscopic approach to the studies of magnetic configurations in hard magnets which may be conveniently used for nanoscale systems; the microstructure of the magnet is easily and naturally included in the calculations. This approach is applied to find the structure of macrodomain walls in polytwinned magnets of the CoPt family. Magnetostatic fields are small compared to the anisotropy field in these magnets; direct simulation shows that in this case the macrodomain wall is not continuous, but rather comprised of segments held together by relatively small magnetostatic forces. This segmentation is expected to have a strong effect on …

Magnetization Reversal Of Individual Nanowires With Controlled Defects, Andrei Sokolov, Renat F. Sabirianov, W. Wernsdorfer, Bernard Doudin

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

Low temperature magnetization reversal measurements were performed on individual permalloy nanowires of diameters between 30 and 60 nm. During the electrochemical growth of the wire, a defect was induced by a short pulse in the deposition potential modifying locally the microstructure and composition. Magnetic measurements performed with micro-superconducting quantum interference devices were performed. The angular dependence of switching field revealed significant deviations from classical predictions. For specific angles, magnetization curves indicate a reversal occurring in two steps.

Closed-Form Solution For The Size Of Plastic Zone In An Edge-Cracked Strip, Xiangfa Wu, Yuris A. Dzenis

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Faculty Publications

This paper is concerned with the problem of plastic zone at the tip of an edge crack in an isotropic elastoplastic strip under anti-plane deformations. By means of complex potential and Dugdale model, the stress intensity factor and the size of plastic zone are obtained in closed-form. Furthermore, the analytic solutions for an edge crack at the free boundary of a half-space and a semi-infinite crack heading towards a free surface are determined as the limiting cases of the strip geometries. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acuta Enews May 2002, Vol 31, No. 5

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

ACUTA Ruth A. Michalecki Leadership Awards

ACUTA Newsletter Goes Online

New at Reno Conference Exhibition: Wireless Pavilion

DC Update

What Do You Need to Get Into the Cable Business?

Board Report

Dues Invoices Mailed

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

Editor's Note

Oxygen Plasma Effects On Optical Properties Of Znse Films, Li Yan, John A. Woollam, Eva Franke

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Zinc selenide is an infrared transparent semiconductor material being considered for use in space as an infrared optical coating. In this work, zinc selenide thin films of different thicknesses were exposed to an electron cyclotron resonance generated oxygen plasma, often used to ‘‘simulate’’ the low earth orbital environment. The maximum fluence used in our experiments was equivalent to ~16 years in the low earth orbital environment. ZnSe thin film optical constants (both before and after oxygen plasma exposure) were determined using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry from the vacuum ultraviolet at 146 nm through the middle infrared to 40 μm. A …

Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Treatment Improves Properties Of Cast Films From Soy Protein Isolate, Jong W. Rhim, Aristippos Gennadios, Curtis Weller, Milford Hanna

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

The manufacture of edible/biodegradable films or coatings can potentially add value to soy protein. This study was conducted to determine the effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on selected physical properties of glycerin-plasticized soy protein isolate (SPI) films. Films were cast from heated (70 °C for 20 min), alkaline (pH 10) aqueous solutions of SPI (5 g/100 ml water), glycerin (50% w/w of SPI), and SDS (0, 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40% w/w of SPI). Tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (E), moisture content (MC), total soluble matter (TSM), water vapor permeability (WVP), and color values (L, a, and …

Apr 2002, Tractor Museum

Lester F. Larsen Tractor Museum: Planning and Development Documents

Potential Board Members Conservation Assessment Program Tractor Museum Calender

Acuta Enews April 2002, Vol 31, No. 4

ACUTA Newsletters

FCC Grants Limited Access to Calling Party Numbers

Please Join the Team!................. Be a Moderator or Monitor in Reno

DC Update

Constructions Specifications Institute To Expand MasterFormat For Communications

Board Report

A Living Disaster Plan

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

Course On Engineering Entrepreneurship, Paul Savory

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This is the syllabus and course note packet for students in my Engineering Entrepreneurship course. This special-topic class focuses on starting and managing a successful business. Topics will include: marketing, finance, human resources, operations, legal issues, initial public offering, and succession and estate planning. Due to the engineering background of the students, special emphasis will be on exploring the legal issues involved in the process of applying for a patent. The course will enable a student to evaluate his or her own desires and prospects for a career as an entrepreneur. In so doing, it will provide the aspiring entrepreneur …

Course Notes: Engineering Entrepreneurship, Paul Savory

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This special-topic class will focus on starting and managing a successful business. Topics will include: marketing, finance, human resources, operations, legal issues, initial public offering, and succession and estate planning. Due to the engineering background of the students, special emphasis will be on exploring the legal issues involved in the process of applying for a patent. The course will enable a student to evaluate his or her own desires and prospects for a career as an entrepreneur. In so doing, it will provide the aspiring entrepreneur with a framework for selecting, funding, and starting his or her own business. While …

Supporting The Development And External Review Of Course Portfolios, Paul Savory, Dan Bernstein, John Comer, Jennifer Robinson

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This presentation introduces the Peer Review of Teaching project for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The faculty fellowship program is described and the process by which faculty create course portfolios is explained. How portfolios are used for formative and summative assessment are discussed.

Acuta Enews March 2002, Vol 31, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

Leadership Award to Honor Ruth Michalecki

ACUTA Elections to Go Online

DC Update

Board Report

Writing and Selling the Plan

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

Thermodynamics And Bioenergetics, Yaşar Demirel, Stanley I. Sandler

Papers in Thermal Mechanics

Bioenergetics is concerned with the energy conservation and conversion processes in a living cell, particularly in the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. This review summarizes the role of thermodynamics in understanding the coupling between the chemical reactions and the transport of substances in bioenergetics. Thermodynamics has the advantages of identifying possible pathways, providing a measure of the efficiency of energy conversion, and of the coupling between various processes without requiring a detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. In the last five decades, various new approaches in thermodynamics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and network thermodynamics have been developed to understand the transport and …

Thermodynamics And Bioenergetics, Yaşar Demirel, Stanley I. Sandler

Papers in Thermal Mechanics

Bioenergetics is concerned with the energy conservation and conversion processes in a living cell, particularly in the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. This review summarizes the role of thermodynamics in understanding the coupling between the chemical reactions and the transport of substances in bioenergetics. Thermodynamics has the advantages of identifying possible pathways, providing a measure of the efficiency of energy conversion, and of the coupling between various processes without requiring a detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. In the last five decades, various new approaches in thermodynamics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and network thermodynamics have been developed to understand the transport and …

Information Efficiency In Hyperspectral Imaging Systems, Stephen E. Reichenbach, Luyin Cao, Ram M. Narayanan

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

In this work we develop a method for assessing the information density and efficiency of hyperspectral imaging systems that have spectral bands of non-uniform width. Imaging system designs with spectral bands of nonuniform width can efficiently gather information about a scene by allocating bandwidth among the bands according to their information content. The information efficiency is the ratio of information density to data density and is a function of the scene’s spectral radiance, hyperspectral system design, and signal-to-noise ratio. The assessment can be used to produce an efficient system design. For example, one approach to determining the number and width …

Nanostructures With Small- And Large-Scale Periodic And Random Rough Surfaces And Lateral Fluctuations In The Permittivity And Permeability-Scattered Near Fields, Ezekiel Bahar

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The scattered electromagnetic near fields due to fluctuations in the surface height and/or lateral variations in the electromagnetic medium parameters are evaluated using a full-wave approach. Since the scales of the height and medium fluctuations considered could be significantly smaller or larger than the electromagnetic wavelengths, the familiar perturbation and physical/geometrical optics solutions cannot be used nor is it possible to investigate subwave length features based on far-field measurements. The full-wave approach employs complete field expansion that includes propagating and evanescent waves as well as lateral waves and surface waves, which are not accounted for in the perturbation and physical …

Experimental Study Of Streamers In Pure N2 And N2/O2 Mixtures And A ≈13 Cm Gap, Won J. Yi, P. F. Williams

P. F. (Paul Frazer) Williams Publications

Empirical data on streamer formation and propagation in near-atmospheric pressure N₂ and N₂/O₂mixtures are presented. The data were obtained primarily from high-speed, high-sensitivity shutter and streak photography of streamers produced in a ≈13 cm gap. The streamer propagation velocity as a function of applied voltage, polarity, total pressure, and O₂ concentration are provided. In addition, information on streamer bifurcation, and streamer shape and size is included.

The breakdown process has two phases: a fast phase featuring the propagation of streamers, and much slower phase involving the heating of the gas to form the spark …

Expression Of Active Human Factor Ix In Mammary Tissue And Of Milk Non Human Transgenic Mammals, William H. Velander

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Patents

Recombinant Factor IX characterized by a high percentage of active protein can be obtained in the milk of transgenic animals that incorporate chimeric DNA molecules according to the present invention. Transgenic animals of the present invention are produced by introducing into developing embryos DNA that encodes Factor IX, such that the foreign DNA is stably incorporated in the DNA of germ line cells of the mature animal. Particularly efficient expression was accomplished using a chimeric construct comprising a mammary gland specific promoter, Factor IX cDNA that lacked the complete or any portion of the 5'-untranslated and 3'-untranslated region, which is …

Expression Of Active Human Factor Ix In Mammary Tissue And Of Milk Non Human Transgenic Mammals , William H. Velander, William N. Drohan

Papers in Biotechnology

Recombinant Factor IX characterized by a high percentage of active protein can be obtained in the milk of transgenic animals that incorporate chimeric DNA molecules according to the present invention. Transgenic animals of the present invention are produced by introducing into developing embryos DNA that encodes Factor IX, such that the foreign DNA is stably incorporated in the DNA of germ line cells of the mature animal. Particularly efficient expression was accomplished using a chimeric construct comprising a mammary gland specific promoter, Factor IX cDNA that lacked the complete or any portion of the 5'-untranslated and 3'-untranslated region, which is …

Acuta Enews February 2002, Vol 31, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

Nominations Sought for Board of Directors

Board Report

DC Update

In Memory Of............... Ruth Michalecki

What You've Got and What You Need (Information Gathering)

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

FCC

Characterization Of Crbn Films Deposited By Ion Beam Assisted Deposition, S.M. Aouadi, F. Namavar, E. Tobin, N. Finnegan, R.T. Haasch, R. Nilchiani, Joseph A. Turner, S. L. Rohde

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

This article reports on the growth and analysis of CrBN nanocrystalline materials using an ion beam assisted deposition process. In addition, this article addresses the utilization of spectroscopic ellipsometry for in situ analysis of ternary nitrides. Coatings, with a total thickness of 1.5 ±0.2 μm, were deposited at low temperatures (<200 °C) on silicon substrates using ion beam assisted deposition. These coatings were characterized postdeposition using x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), visible-light spectroscopic ellipsometry (VIS-SE), infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry (IR-SE), and nanoindentation. The primary phases in the films were investigated using XRD. The surface morphology and nanocrystalline nature of the coatings (grain size of 5–7 nm) were deduced using AFM. The elemental composition and phase composition of the samples were determined from XPS and AES measurements and were subsequently deduced from the analysis of the VIS-SE data, and these correlated well. XPS, AES, and IR-SE revealed the crystal structure of the BN phase in the ternary compounds. The correlation of the results from these various techniques indicates that in situ SE may be a potential technique to control the growth of ternary nitride coatings in the future. The mechanical properties of the coatings were evaluated using nanohardness testing. The hardness and elastic modulus were measured to be 19–22 GPa and 250–270 GPa, respectively.

Characterization Of Vadose Zone Sediment: Uncontaminated Rcra Borehole Core Samples And Composite Samples, R. J. Serne, B. N. Bjornstad, H. T. Schaef, B. A. Williams, D. C. Lanigan, D. G. Horton, R. E. Clayton, A. V. Mitroshkov, V. L. Legore, M. J. O’Hara, C. F. Brown, K. E. Parker, I. V. Kutnyakov, J. N. Serne, G. V. Last, Steven Smith, C. W. Lindenmeier, John M. Zachara, D. B. Burke

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The overall goal of the of the Tank Farm Vadose Zone Project, led by CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc., is to define risks from past and future single-shell tank farm activities. To meet this goal, CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. asked scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to perform detailed analyses on vadose zone sediment from within the S-SX Waste Management Area. This report is one in a series of four reports to present the results of these analyses. Specifically, this report contains all the geologic, geochemical, and selected physical characterization data collected on vadose zone sediment recovered from Resource …

Long-Term Manure And Fertilizer Application Effects On Phosphorus And Nitrogen In Runoff, Bahman Eghball, John E. Gilley, David D. Baltensperger, J. M. Blumenthal

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Long–term manure and fertilizer applications to a soil can increase phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) transport in runoff. This study was conducted to determine P and N transport in runoff following long–term (since 1953) manure and fertilizer applications. Duplicate soil samples (32) were collected in 1998 from the top 0.1 m of selected plots of a long–term manure and fertilizer applications field experiment and later placed in 1 m² soil pans in the laboratory. Manure and fertilizer were mixed with 16 of the soil samples, while no treatment was applied to the other half (long–term residual effect). Simulated rainfall …

Formation Of 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (Cs Riot Control Agent) Thermal Degradation Products At Elevated Temperatures, Timothy A. Kluchinsky, Michael Sheely, Paul B B. Savage, Philip A. Smith

United States Army: Publications

2-Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS riot control agent) has been shown to produce a number of thermal degradation products when dispersed at high temperature.We hypothesized that these CS-derived compounds are formed by energy input from heating during the dispersion process. Here we identified organic CS-derived compounds formed from purified CS subjected to temperatures ranging from 300 to 900 degrees C in an inert atmosphere with analysis of tube furnace effluent by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. We conclude that the production of many CS-derived compounds previously observed during high-temperature dispersion is likely to be heat related.

Solitary Waves And Supersonic Reaction Front In Metastable Solids, Hendrik J. Viljoen, Lee L. Lauderback, Didier Sornette

Papers in Solid Phase Dynamics

Motivated by an increasing number of remarkable experimental observations on the role of pressure and shear stress in solid reactions, explosions, and detonations, we present a simple one-dimensional model that embodies nonlinear elasticity and dispersion as well as chemical or phase transformation. This generalization of the Toda lattice provides an effective model for the description of the organization during an abrupt transformation in a solid. One of the challenges is to capture both the equilibrium degrees of freedom as well as to quantify the possible role of out-of-equilibrium perturbations. In the Toda lattice, we verify that the particle velocities converge …

Jan 2002, Tractor Museum

Lester F. Larsen Tractor Museum: Planning and Development Documents

Newsletter Report Museum Open House 149 visitors